Cars

We made it to the theatre this morning to see CARS. If you've been keeping up with your Wonderful World of Blog posts you know that my two and a half year old son Elias and I have been anticipating this film for quite sometime now. I have to say, It didn't quite have that WOW factor that most of the other Pixar films had. It started off very fast and somewhat obnoxious and there were parts in the middle that were slow and seemed to drag on. Honestly, the movie probably would have benefited from another trip to the editing suite, but that's not to say the movie is bad. It's bright and colorful and funny and has a large cast of crazy characters. The theme, about not forgetting what's important in life and taking time to slow down and smell the roses, is relateable enough.

Maybe it's that Elias and I had read some of the books based on the movie, or that there are only so many ways you can make a "racing" movie and we just saw HERBIE FULLY LOADED last summer, but CARS didn't pop off the screen the way I had hoped it would. For whatever reason, Elias was more interested in the projection booth than the image on the giant screen infront of him, so I spent a considerable amount of time paying attention to him and getting him settled than paying attention to the movie. Once the movie left the race track, and Lightning McQueen visits the small town of Radiator Springs...all the different characters that Elias knew started to pop up. Elias proudly announced to the entire theatre the name of each Car as it made it's first appearance on screen. Whenever a car would rev it's engine, Elias would loudly supply his impression of a car revving it's engine. Elias also felt the need to get up on his seat and dance during musical montage scenes. No amount of "shhhh's" and "you have to be quite in the movie theatre" kept Elias under control. For years I've had movies ruined by people talking, cell phones, noisy popcorn eaters, and disruptive children...it was nice to give something back to the community!

Overall, it's a good movie. Comparing it to other Pixar films, I'd have to rank it below MONSTERS INC, TOY STORY, TOY STORY 2, and FINDING NEMO. Comparing it to other movies, I'd have to say it's way better than your average movie. I'm sure it's safe to say that CARS is much better than THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS TOKYO DRIFT or GARFIELD A TALE OF TWO KITTIES.

With that all said, we still need three more CARS toys to finish our collection, and I'm not resting `till I find them!